Is a 102 cases a lot?

Last year, there were 644 cases of measles reported.

This year's pace is striking: One month into the new year, the number of measles cases is nearly one-sixth of last year's total.

A closer look makes this year's measles outbreak look even worse. Last year's 644 measles cases is an outlier compared to the previous decade. The number of measles cases in 2014 was the highest since 2000.

Between 2001 and 2011, the median number of measles cases reported per year was 62. (During that period, the highest number of cases in a single year was 220, and the lowest was 37).

Here's the glass-half-empty view: So far this year, there are already more cases of measles than during an entire typical year. Those are the words of Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

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"This worries me and I want to do everything possible to prevent measles from getting a foothold in the United States and becoming endemic again," she said.

The CDC points out that people who refuse to vaccinate usually live in the same community. When measles finds its way into these communities, outbreaks are more likely to occur, and controlling the disease becomes harder.

Measles is not a virus that Americans typically spend time worrying about, because for a long time it has not been prevalent. But it is a serious disease. It is a highly communicable respiratory disease caused by a virus and spread through the air.

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The bottom line, of course, is that no matter what the recommendations are, no person or institution can force people to vaccinate their children. Schools and other institutions often have immunization requirements, but there are ways to opt out for religious or personal reasons.

During the last school year, 3.3% of California kindergartners -- about 18,200 -- were allowed to skip vaccinations, according to the CDC. The vast majority of exemptions were due to personal beliefs.

Journalists at Silk, a platform for creating data visualizations, took California Kindergarten vaccination rate data and found 133 school districts with vaccination compliance rates at 80% or lower.

Why do I keep hearing this being called a debate?

Scientifically, there is no debate. The measles vaccine is effective. Most of those who contract measles, unsurprisingly, are those who are unvaccinated.

But a conversation about the current measles outbreak brings up other ideas -- on personal and religious freedoms, skepticism of scientific findings, reach of government regulations -- that are inherently political. And here is where the arguments arise.